Feel The Ground Shake (Pokemon - Ground-type specialist)

[Jambory]

Sparks bristle along the Manectric's fur. The blue-skinned hound jerks its head and with a flash of blinding light a new team member has suddenly replaced it on the field. An orange-bodied Pokémon wearing a far-too-innocent little smile.

…

…

No officer, my jaw isn't on the floor. What are you saying?

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So I'm not gonna lie, I read "orange-bodied Pokémon wearing a far-too-innocent little smile" and thought it was going to be a Dedenne.

Thought it was going to be one of those classic "it might look puny, but it's actually ridiculously powerful," like Ash's Pikachu or Elesa's Tynamo.


But yeah, Rotom-Wash makes way more sense.

 

[Bob Saget]

Meta moves like Baton Pass, Roar, and Volt Switch really detract and distract from the suspense and spirit of "real" battling.

They're moves designed and implemented to make the poke-games artificial turn based battling less basic. But much like running onto a deadly field to apply a hyper potion to completely heal your pokemon 'between' moves, they do not hold up well when you ponder their realism and impact on battles.

 

[Kenshin135]

Meta moves like Baton Pass, Roar, and Volt Switch really detract and distract from the suspense and spirit of "real" battling.

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I agree that most of the switch moves are too gamified to work when applied to 'real' battles, but I do think Baton Pass holds up. At least the buff passing aspect. I imagine it something like using the mutual bond to the trainer to temporarily store and transfer the buffs during the switch.

A move like Roar should just make an opponent flee away, Whirlwind toss them away, Volt Switch/U-Turn are just moves that use recoil/momentum to create a bunch of distance after hitting, etc.

Same with Entry Hazards; activating on switch in is weird, I imagine them more like traps a target stumbles into by moving around.

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Man this fight was amazing! And man that strat is perfect for a Dark type(though I do hope we see a Moxie fueled sweep at some point) and a a real battle turner. Cause it puts an opponents entire damn team on the clock. And with how many Toxic Spikes were laid down they're Badly Poisoned.

 

[LordVishnu]

He didn't note that Grass Knot was also being used differently here? It's normally a remote attack that strikes from below tripping you and converting gravity into Grass damage. Not a contact move that leaves a lash scar.

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Oops.

I'm guessing that Volt Switch here was being used by striking himself. Because normally Volt Switch does nothing if it can't damage.

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Nah. It really was just some Electric Aura cheat codes.

 

[Dokiewokje]

I like this chapter, the implication that Brad is already above gym leader level is great, type advantage notwithstanding

 

[AceViltrumite]

TFTC
Happy New Year!!

 

[wdango]

"Well son you certainly played me good on that one! I concede!"

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Oh, for shame. I wanted to see Grundy fight, and that was a lovely high level match. Great showing especially by Vlad, though. Quickly becoming my favourite player on this team.

 

[Slickji]

I guess they are going to patch the roar if he does that in the conference, maybe limiting the times he can spam that.

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Disable and similar effects in a unlimited size moveset format shut it down, it cost nothing to have it in but isn't op because unlimited moveset size but shuts down op strats reliant on 1 move.

or a faster pokemon using ingrain style effects into encore into set up move into encore again if you dont switch out.

it's got negative priority my man, enough counterplay exists if you can't beat you shouldn't win such a prestigious tournament like the silver conference.

edit
oh no, negative priority here all the more reason people should be prepared, I mean you can just do your own roar too or court change or you get the point. forced switching in games with priority is possible via prankster and that's not banned so 0 priority wouldn't be either.

edit 2
riolu has prankster and roar all this really is that strategy except you don't have to use riolun and you get no priority

really think about it competitively you could roar for ~37% if you got 3 spikes and stealth rock up assuming neutral to rock. or you could sword dance up twice as gliscor and use eq or facade to ohko and still have turns left over for hazards.

 

[rahad]

Wattson's team is actually good enough to take down Grundy. But not in a 1v1 and he knows it.

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I think is more like the arena would not have survived the battle. Remember he is a gym leader and need the arena for the challenger tomorrow. Battling a Alpha pokemon would have wreaked the arena for a couple of days.

 

[NightmareWarden]

I think is more like the arena would not have survived the battle. Remember he is a gym leader and need the arena for the challenger tomorrow. Battling a Alpha pokemon would have wreaked the arena for a couple of days.

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This sounds right. I hope they move the battle outside and he sets a "no earthquakes" rule for Grundy.

The roar strategy would have annoyed me. Hyper Voice should counter it. Normally it works through Protect and Detect as of Gen VI, but I bet a gym leader's strongest will be able to tank it with those two. I also reckon Roar should drain something from the user's reserves, unlike a normal scream. Energy which could have been used for normal attacks. If this was another story, I'd recommend giving Roar a luck-based chance of succeeding, with better odds if any of your pokemon's type(s) are super effective against the target.

Brad took care of babies from time to time while working at the ice gym, yes? If not babies, still very young ones? Yeah, I guess he will be okay to handle the baltoys. And they could be intriguing for Mewtwo or Mew, should they meet. I reckon they'll be a protective element in case Brad needs to wrestle with Moltres or Zapdos in a city environment or in the sea, where he's frantic.

Spoiler: Dumb prediction

I wouldn't mind AT ALL if Mewtwo himself stole the baltoys from. Brad. The man worked with team rocket and I think Mewtwo would have issues with someone "raising psychic babies from birth to be weapons" like the public's minds could assume from Brad's appearances. Plus, that means we could see Brandon versus Mewtwo, if the Registeel arc results in the two B-boys hitting it off.

So is Brad going to ask about Scott, if Watson's call to Brandon fails? Scott seems like the kind of man who can track Brandon.

 

[LinkedTortoise]

This sounds right. I hope they move the battle outside and he sets a "no earthquakes" rule for Grundy.

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Grundy is a special attacker probably because less things die. Most moves we've seen him use are special.

 

[Requiem_Jeer]

Grundy is Bold natured, which means reduced Physical Attack. 10% less, specifically.

A nidoking's base attack is 102, while their base special attack is 85. So by focusing (see: EV training) Grundy on Special Attack, he could easily have a higher special attack than regular attack.

Of course, the real reason is that Nidoking has a fantastic special attack pool that triggers easily off of Sheer Force, and while the Life Orb makes this superfluous, the one item per team limit means that he'll not be using that often.

 

[Priapus]

"Gyro Ball!" 'Going to come at us physically!'

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Gyro ball is such a weird move for electrode, outside of the name. A move that scales inversely with speed on a hyperspeed mon.

Still, it's a steel-type move, so we take that off-typing.

The change out is quick. A pink Heal Ball is tossed into the ring before Electrode's even finished dematerializing.

"Raaaaiii!!"

Raichu: Lv. 62
Nature: Bashful
Potential: C+

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Ngl, I misread that as Raikou for a moment, and was concerned.

"Well hot damn! Looks like that makes us 1-1! I knew this was a good idea! My guys really have grown rusty against taking a proper hit!"

The man is laughing…he's laughing, and on my end of the field it's all nervous swallows and sweat beading down my neck.

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It ain't the waterfall that is nervous, but the carp.

Spikes layer one: Deployed.

Wattson's eyes narrow and for the first time an actual frown manages to briefly show on the jovial man's face. It was fleeting, but it was there. 'I think we may have found ol' Pop Pop's pet peeve.'

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Understandable. It's such a Blue move.

There are many reactions I've witnessed when people first behold the titanic Nidoking. I've seen fear. Dismay. Disbelief. Even pure awe.

Complete and utter silence followed by laughter is a first though.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Wattson lets loose his biggest, deepest, most full-bodied belly laugh to date. The man almost toppling over from how far he's leaning back. His hand is slapping his thigh over and over as he tries to control himself. "Well son you certainly played me good on that one! I concede!"

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Yeah, even a much higher-levelled Manetric would struggle to won against Grundy without proper setup, and trying isn't worth the repair costs.